Notre Dame football and head coach Marcus Freeman will travel to Chapel Hill on Saturday to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels, led by former NFL legend Bill Belichick.

On paper, this is a game the Fighting Irish should win convincingly. There are compelling storylines surrounding Saturday’s matchup, including the contrast between two very different coaches on opposite sidelines.

Along with help from some peers at A to Z Sports, here are the final game predictions for this Notre Dame versus North Carolina clash, including final score predictions heading into Saturday’s game.

Craig Smith, A to Z Sports Miami

This is a golden opportunity, pun somewhat intended, for Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels to prove that they are heading in the right direction. The Tar Heels defense has been mostly good this year, holding TCU to 10 points and keeping Clemson in check for a good chunk of their matchup.

But who are we kidding? The Tigers, who have struggled offensively, still scored 28 points to win that game, and Notre Dame is significantly better than Clemson on both sides of the football. The Irish defense suffocates North Carolina’s offense early, and after a couple of quick scoring drives, this one is out of reach early on the way to an absolute laugher. Irish roll in impressive fashion.

Final score prediction: Notre Dame 48, UNC 13.

Tyler Forness, A to Z Sports Florida

I’m still not sure how I feel about Notre Dame as a true national title contender, but one thing is for certain, they are very good with a defense that can be downright scary. I think they will easily outclass UNC with Bill Belichick struggling to keep the program together after the departures of Mike Lombardi and his son Steve Belichick. This game will be over quickly.

Final score prediction: Notre Dame 42, UNC 10.

Rob Gregson, A to Z Sports Alabama

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that players like Gio Lopez leave UNC and suddenly look much better in their new outfits. The Tar Heels went toe to toe with Clemson, but I believe that’s more indicative of the fall-off the Clemson are— the Tigers are experiencing as opposed to UNC’s uprising.

Notre Dame has one of, if not the best rosters in the country, given the NFL draft prospects that the Fighting Irish defense is loaded with. I’m not sure how the Tar Heels plan to move the chains, but they may have to actually reinvent the wheel. Bill Belichick is nothing if not a great defensive mind, so perhaps he throws some stuff at CJ Carr to try and trip him up, but UNC doesn’t have the players to match up appropriately. Give me the Fighting Irish in a rout.

Final score prediction: Notre Dame 30, UNC 10.

Ryan Roberts, A to Z Sports Notre Dame

I’m not sure how the UNC offense is going to be able to score much against Notre Dame, but they do have the home field advantage and this team has shown signs of life in year 2 under Bill Belichick. Their defense is a good group, including defensive lineman Xavier Lewis, who leads the team with 8.5 tackles for loss and 6 sacks in only 3 games. I do think that the defense is good enough, especially on the defensive line, where they could give CJ Carr and the offense some difficulties early on the contest.

However, eventually Notre Dame’s offense is going to create a couple explosives and get rolling, especially in the second and third quarters. Notre Dame gets out to a big lead and gives up a garbage score to North Carolina down the stretch. I think that this ends up being a comfortable victory with a somewhat slow start for the Notre Dame team— Notre Dame offense.

Final score prediction: Notre Dame 38, UNC 10.

All four writers have the Fighting Irish winning by at least 20 points, with scores ranging from 30-10 to 48-13. North Carolina’s defense has shown enough fight to keep things interesting early, but none of the predictions give UNC’s offense much of a chance against Notre Dame’s loaded defensive roster. Freeman and the Irish are heavy favorites to leave Chapel Hill with a convincing win on Saturday.